


We Speak In Silence

by thegizka



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Blank Period, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Post-War, SasuSaku - Freeform, Slow Burn, Team as Family, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend, team seven
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-01-27 13:10:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21392701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegizka/pseuds/thegizka
Summary: The truth was in what they could not say, though it might take time to understand the silence.  This is how Sasuke and Sakura learned to love each other.Note:  I do not own any aspect of Naruto.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 7
Kudos: 98





	1. Clouded Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Sasuke waits for his sentence after the war, he has a lot of time to reflect on the past. Somehow he'd never noticed the strength of certain bonds that now might be beyond repair.

Sasuke had grown used to many types of darkness, but none had been as complete as this. Everything was black. He couldn’t see any glimmer of light or variation in the intensity of shadows. He couldn’t _ see _. For someone possessing the Sharingan and Rinnegan, it was disconcerting, but he was growing used to it.

Sometimes he wondered if that would be their price. To atone for his crimes, they might demand his eyes. They had every right to. These eyes had caused extensive damage to the village, intentionally and by association. But they were also an asset , the last Sharingan and Rinnegan in existence (as far as he knew). He couldn’t imagine the council would vote to destroy them, but he couldn’t trust them to take them from him, either. He knew all too well the chaos that these eyes could cause in the wrong hands. If they did ask for them, he’d destroy them. It would be close to destroying the last tie he had to his brother, but if that was the price they demanded, that was the price he would reconcile himself to pay.

Sasuke had tried not to give too much thought to that possibility. He doubted Naruto would allow them to take the Sharingan or Rinnegan, but he also wondered how long the council would continue to humor Naruto’s requests. Eventually his status as hero of the war would fade from relevance. Sasuke’s crimes might already be too big for Naruto to erase. They weren’t his to deal with anyways, but Naruto insisted on involving himself. It was that insistent demanding that had saved Sasuke, but it was so intense that sometimes he felt it driving him away again.

He rolled his shoulders carefully. What was left of his left arm was aching, so he did what he could to adjust the straightjacket wrapped around it. The restraint, like the seal on his eyes, was unnecessary, but he understood why he had to wear them . Naruto, though, had thrown a fit the first time he’d seen his best friend tied up like this.

“What the hell?” he’d growled. “What is this?”

“It’s just a precaution,” Kakashi explained. He’d agreed to chaperone this visit, the first encounter between Naruto and Sasuke since the end of the war, and had expected a reaction like this.

“Against what?” Naruto had demanded. “Sasuke’s not going to attack anyone. He’s cooperating.”

“According to most of the shinobi world, he’s still a dangerous criminal. They’ll need more than his word to believe he’s changed.”

“He saved everyone during the war. What other proof do they need?”

“Shut up, usuratonkachi,” Sasuke growled. “It’s fine.”

Eventually Naruto had settled down and returned to pretending that everything was fine. He ignored his friend’s transgressions, already viewing them as forgiven, but Sasuke knew they couldn’t be ignored. Yes, he had helped to defeat Madara and Kaguya, but he’d played his part in the war with the intention of tearing down the current shinobi world and rebuilding it according to what he’d believed was a just vision. His contribution had been merely to guarantee there would still be a world to rebuild after the war.

Naruto seemed incapable of understanding this, not that Sasuke had bothered to try and explain it. They understood each other on an instinctual, emotional level, but the village hero viewed things too simply to understand the guilt that Sasuke carried. Only Kakashi had come close to piecing it together. He was a less frequent visitor than Naruto, but where the latter enjoyed sharing memories and village gossip, their former sensei provided a stark account of the politics which would determine Sasuke’s fate. He appreciated the brutal honesty and was glad that someone wasn’t afraid of facing the reality and repercussions of his sins.

He didn’t get many other visitors. Members of the intel division had interrogated him steadily, sometimes accompanied by the Hokage or members of the village council, but he’d told them nearly everything at this point. Medical shinobi came less often to check that his injuries were healing. The visits were brief, and they didn’t encourage idle conversation. His guards didn’t say much, either, though Sasuke sometimes heard them whispering together in the darkness beyond his cell.

In the long hours he was left alone, Sasuke had come to realize many things about who he was and his relationship to this village. Naruto, of course, was his strongest tie to it, the rival he’d wished he could be rid of but who always pulled him back. He’d realized that Kakashi, too, had tried to reach him in his own imperfect way, to teach him how to steer his resentment towards something more useful than destructive. And finally there’d been Sakura who he’d tried discarding time and time again but had always somehow returned to get in his way.

Except now. She was the only member of their former team who had not visited. He hated to admit it, but this bothered him. He owed her an explanation. He couldn’t figure out why, though. Naruto hadn’t needed one and probably wouldn’t allow Sasuke to explain himself even if he tried. Kakashi had been able to work out most of his experiences and motives from the information they’d gathered while trying to track him. Sakura, who seemed to have both an instinctual understanding of his intentions and an intelligence equal to their former sensei, had surely already determined everything he might say to her.

Yet it still nagged at him, permeating the darkness he endured. He had wanted to tell her immediately when she came upon him and Naruto bleeding out together, just in case he never got the chance to again, but she hadn’t let him. Sasuke had been sure she had understood everything in that moment, but he could not shake the sense that he still needed to tell her more, that somehow she deserved to hear him say everything aloud.

He wasn’t sure she’d give him the chance now. Once he’d turned himself in to the Hokage, she had disappeared to help treat the other wounded, and he hadn’t seen her since. Honestly, he couldn’t blame her. He had never given her a chance to reach him before, so he couldn’t expect Sakura to so much as give him the time of day. Still, he had somehow expected her to be here. She was always here, even--maybe especially--when he didn’t want her to be.

He had never really noticed it before. Consumed by his anger at his brother and, later, the shinobi world, Sasuke had been endlessly frustrated when Naruto--with his dream of being Hokage and saving everyone--challenged him at every turn. He was insistent and demanding, while everyone else seemed capable of letting Sasuke go. Except Sakura. Sasuke had thought she would be an easy bond to sever. For this reason, he hadn’t bothered trying to seriously kill her. He’d even though she might join him in the world he would remake. After all, she had offered to follow him when he’d first started down his path of vengeance.

He could see now that had been a foolish oversight on his part. Every time he stewed in his frustration with Naruto’s growth, whenever he detailed his plans to destroy the village, and in each moment he felt himself lusting after more power, she was there tickling the edge of his thoughts. He should have known his bond with her was deep in the way she was always there, but her influence had been weak. She had been weak in his eyes and therefore had not been worthy of his attention.

When they met on the battlefield of war and he witnessed her power, Sasuke began to suspect he’d been wrong. When she’d kneeled beside him and used what chakra she still had to save him despite having been once again cast aside, he had known his idea of who she was hadn’t done her justice. Mulling everything over for hours alone in this darkness, Sasuke began to suspect that Sakura was stronger than he was in more ways than one.

He shifted again and told himself he could endure the pain that shot up his arm and across his back. It was part of his penance. It was the price Naruto had paid to bring him back. He could endure it. After all, pain had made him stronger. And, he knew, pain would eventually pass in the wake of healing.

“Hey,” someone called, knocking gently against the bars of his cell. He recognized the voice of Genma Shiranui who often accompanied Sasuke’s visitors. The seal on his eyes was blocking some of his chakra so he hadn’t sensed him approach. He hadn’t heard him, either, but Genma was an elite jounin, so that wasn’t surprising. He raised his head to indicate he was listening.

“Medical visit,” Genma explained. “You know the deal.”

“Okay.” He sat up straight and still, promising no sudden movements. He waited while Genma released the seal on his cell, relieved somewhat that the pain would ease soon. But the relief dissolved into uneasiness when the medical shinobi stepped into his cell and he finally got a clear reading of her chakra.

Sakura had finally come to visit him.


	2. Dark History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura doesn't know what to say to Sasuke. There's a lot of painful history between them. But he is injured, and she is a medical kunoichi. Even if she can't heal emotionally, she can care for his physical wounds.

Sakura had tried to prepare herself. Without looking too eager, she’d checked his medical records and the reports after every treatment. When she had time, she’d hover around Kakashi who, as he often did, would sense what she was really after and drop casual observations into their conversation. Sai usually didn’t need any prompting. She knew he’d been volunteering for guard shifts and helping the intel division so he could better understand their bonds. But the most valuable conversations on the topic were always with Naruto.

“I can tell he’s thinking through a lot of things,” he said as Sakura carefully rebandanged his arm during a checkup. “He’s always quiet. He can’t just let things be.”

“Sometimes things are too complicated to brush off.” She finished with his arm and moved to his head wound. It was disconcerting to remember that most of her friend’s injuries had been inflicted by Sasuke. How had things come to this? And even now in the aftermath, could they ever return to the way they had been?

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto said softly, catching her hands. “Everything will be fine. He’s going to be okay.”

She let the warmth of his conviction wash over her for a moment before gently returning to her task.

“There’s a lot of damage there,” she observed.

“That’s no problem,” he laughed. “You’ll just heal everything, dattebayo!”

“Don’t force everything onto me, baka,” she grumbled, poking the gash on his forehead to make him flinch. “I might not have the strength and skill for it.”

“If anything you have too much strength,” he pouted.

“Huh?” she challenged, eyes narrowing menacingly.

“Nothing, nothing!” he backtracked. “I just have the utmost confidence in your skill.”

“Hmph.” She turned back to her task. Naruto was healing more slowly than usual, probably an effect of using up so much of his and Kurama’s chakra during the war. At least there were no signs of infection anywhere.

“You should go visit him,” Naruto suggested as he readjusted his shirt at the end of the checkup. “I think he’s waiting for you.”

“I’m busy,” she deflected. “There are a lot of patients to tend.”

“Okay.” She could tell he knew it was an excuse, but he didn’t push. “Just don’t wait too long.”

“Baka,” she sighed as he left. Sasuke could wait as long as she made him wait. After all, he’d made them wait nearly four years before returning.

In the end, she waited another week after this conversation with Naruto before volunteering to give Sasuke his treatment.

“Are you sure?” Shizune asked, evidently surprised.

“It’s just a checkup. I’ve been taking care of Naruto, so I know what symptoms to look for. I’ll be fine.”

“It’s not your medical expertise I’m checking on. Prison visits involve added complications and risks.”

“Not for me. He won’t do anything,” she said, though it tasted a bit like a lie. Sakura wanted to trust Sasuke simply like Naruto, but she still felt his hands at her throat, his chidori driving through her heart, his eyes cutting her to pieces. If she let the memories resurface for too long, she’d lose what confidence she had. She pushed them away, hiding them in the part of her mind she only visited when it was late and she was alone. She wouldn’t show any weakness.

Sakura brought Sai along for backup. His silent, nonjudgmental presence was reassuring. He didn’t expect anything from this visit, and she didn’t want to contend with others’ expectations on top of her own emotional turmoil. It would be hard enough as it was.

He was just another patient, she reminded herself. She was simply administering treatment. Their personal history had no place here.

No matter how many times she repeated this to herself, she hadn’t been prepared for the moment Genma opened the cell door and she saw him for the first time since the end of the war. It was unsettling to see him wrapped in a straitjacket with the seal over his eyes. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this was merely a facade. She had seen his full power while fighting Kaguya. If he wanted to, she had no doubt he could free himself of the restraints.

That he seemed willing enough to cooperate reassured her that he was sincere in attempting to reconcile his dream with the current shinobi world. Somehow this made it more painful to see Sasuke restrained. She wanted to believe in him, but he looked like a criminal, and she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to trust him yet.

Someone placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Sai giving her his signature smile. At some point she had come to trust that ambiguous smile more than the man in front of them. She was glad to have her teammate backing her up.

Sasuke’s head jerked slightly when she stepped closer, and she knew he recognized her. She wondered if she should say something in greeting, but her mouth felt dry. She wasn’t like Naruto who could smile at everyone. She didn’t even know what she could say to Sasuke. She could continue to tell herself that their history had no place here, but she carried it with her everyday and everywhere. Perhaps she’d been foolish coming here.

_ You’re not expected to make small talk. _ Shizune’s instructions echoed in her head.  _ You’re going there in a medical capacity, not to get information. You just have to make sure he gets the care he needs. _

Sakura took a deep breath. He was a patient, nothing more. She would administer treatment and then be gone. She was a professional. She could do this.

She began undoing the buckles of the straitjacket, urging her fingers not to shake. Sai hovered behind her as security, and she took strength in his familiar presence. Sakura moved slowly and deliberately, carefully peeling away the fabric to avoid irritating her patient’s wounds. She started with his arm. The skin of his shoulder was red as though it had been rubbing against the rough fabric of the jacket. She would have a word with Genma to see if they could loosen it a little.

“Sakura.”

Sasuke said her name so softly it was nearly inaudible. It was neither a question nor a greeting, but she sensed more gravity and meaning in those syllables than they had ever held before. But she didn’t have time to mull over the significance of it. She had a job to do.

Sakura ignored the urge to flinch when the stump of his arm was fully exposed. It was no longer an open wound, the skin having knit itself together according to the stitches, but angry red proto-scars twisted across the skin. Naruto had benefited from readily-accessible medical care and a lack of restraints. His arm looked much healthier. It seemed Sasuke’s suffering had been prolonged.

“How is the pain?” she asked as she summoned chakra to her hands and let it wash over him.

“Not unusual,” he answered.

As her chakra sank into the muscles to trace the places where they were trying to reconnect, she suspected he was downplaying the discomfort. They’d laced light painkillers into the food pills they fed him, but those wouldn’t be particularly effective against significant injuries like this. She’d consult Lady Tsunade to see if they could up the dosage for him.

After the tightness in his face had eased--further evidence that he had been in notable pain--she rewrapped his arm with a fresh bandage, extending it up his shoulder to hopefully prevent some of the rubbing that seemed to irritate his skin.

“Could you turn for me please?”

He shifted on the short bench where they were sitting. Her hands ghosted over the large bruise on his back. That at least seemed to be healing well. She couldn’t sense any internal damage, either. The previous medical reports hadn’t mentioned any, but after seeing the state of his arm, she wanted to double check everything herself.

“Have you been sleeping well?” she asked while she checked some other minor injuries.

“I guess.” Sasuke shrugged, and she watched his muscles roll beneath her hands. “It’s hard to tell.”

“Your eyes?” she guessed, beginning to pull the straitjacket back into place. His silence was his confirmation. “Do they hurt?”

“No.”

“I hope you’re not lying.” She fastened the last buckle a notch looser than it had been to hopefully relieve some pressure on his damaged arm.

“Lying would be pointless.” Sasuke’s voice was heavy with weariness and something sounding like regret. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she also didn’t have time to unpack it.

“It would,” Sakura agreed. She stood and faced him. Instinctively he tilted his head up towards her. She noticed that his hair was getting longer. The bruise on his cheekbone had nearly disappeared, too.

He was here. Sasuke was really here in front of her. It was still difficult to wrap her head around, especially when he was wrapped up like this. He seemed so docile. Fragile, even. Was this really Sasuke? She’s seen so many things during the war, from reincarnations to chakra-mimicking Zetsu transformations. What if this ended up being a cruel trick?

She was struck with the need to see his eyes, the one part of him she knew would never be replicated. She reached towards the seal hiding those sharp, dark eyes. What would she see in them? Hatred? An intent to kill? Annoyance? Those eyes were burned into her memory and taunted her in those dark, lonely moments when she knew she wasn’t strong enough to withstand their gaze. She had always been caught in their power. Even now, she was drawn to them, drawn to  _ him _ . Would she ever be strong enough to break free?

Sakura froze before her fingers touched the fabric of the seal, overcome with the realization that in this moment, Sasuke was completely at her mercy. In this moment, she was the one who held all of the power. She could kill him if she wanted to. Her hand moved down towards his throat. It would be so easy to crush his windpipe or snap his neck. She was physically capable. He had tried to do the same to her once. Her fingertips grazed his skin. She felt him swallow. She pressed forward slightly, and his pulse thrummed against her finger.

She counted the beats in her head, letting the steady rush of blood in his veins dispel the darker ideas intruding on her mind. He was here. He was alive. He had come back to them. Even if she wanted to kill him--and she didn’t, she  _ couldn’t _ , she’d tried once and didn’t have it in her--there was no point now. The best she could do was give him a chance to try again.

Sakura stepped back, nearly bumping into Sai. She took a deep breath and ran through a mental list of checkup procedures to make sure she’d done everything.

“If the pain increases, let someone know. At this point it should be getting better, not worse. And get up once in a while to walk a bit so your leg muscles don’t atrophy.”

He nodded once. She waited a moment but didn’t know what else to say, so she turned to leave.

“Sakura.”

There he went again saying her name like it meant more than any other word in his vocabulary. It made her stop, but she did not turn.

“Thank you.”

She took a shaky breath and blinked, letting his words sink in. Then she stepped forward, leaving Sasuke sitting in silence.


	3. Flickering Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke can't view Sakura's visit as anything more than a routine checkup. She'd been distant and professional. They hadn't made small talk. She'd just been a medical shinobi performing her duty. But Naruto seems to think he's missing something, and when Sakura returns to check on him again, Sasuke begins to think his best friend might be right.

“So,” Naruto grinned. When he grinned, you heard it in his voice.

“So what?” Sasuke asked.

“Sakura-chan! She came to visit, right?”

“She came to make sure I’m healing properly, not to visit.” He leaned back until his head touched the wall.

“You didn’t talk about stuff?”

“What is there to talk about?”

“You know, stuff,” he said in that irritating way he had when he thought something was obvious. “There’s always something to talk about.”

“That’s because you never shut up, usuratonkachi.”

“Well you don’t say enough,” he countered. “Maybe she’s waiting for you to take the lead.”

“Maybe she’s not interested in talking to me.”

“It’s not complicated. Anyone could have checked on you, but  _ she _ came. Sakura-chan doesn’t do things for no reason. You’re part of our team, Sasuke. She cares about you. These aren’t things that you can just ignore.”

“Yeah, well, things have changed.”

“Things haven’t changed as much as you think. You’re still a stubborn idiot.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“All I’m saying is you should have more faith in her. She’s kept her faith in you.”

Sasuke wondered how he could be so sure, but Naruto’s visiting time was up, and he didn’t think he wanted to continue this conversation right now.

By his best guess, it had been four days since Sakura had been here. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it in many of the moments he was left to himself. He’d replayed their interactions in his mind, searching for answers to questions he hadn’t thought to ask in the moment.

She hadn’t seemed particularly interested in chatting. She’d been distant and clinical. True, he hadn’t made much of an attempt to break the ice, but what could he say? “Hey Sakura, nice to see you, except not really because my eyes are sealed away since I’m a criminal. Sorry for ignoring you and breaking your heart and trying to kill you. How have you been?”

Somehow he didn’t think that would go over well.

With a frustrated exhale, Sasuke hauled himself to his feet. Sakura had told him to get up and walk around, so he made a point of doing so. Shuffling around with his eyes covered and arms tied was frustrating, but after several stubbed toes, he’d determined the dimensions of his cell and could pace unhindered. The exercise felt pointless, but after ignoring Sakura’s pleas for so long, he had decided to listen to her for once. This, at least, was something he could do for her.

She couldn’t expect anything more. Her aloof professionalism seemed to confirm this. Sasuke thought it was for the best. After all, he was a walking deadman for all they knew. He was a criminal. Naruto seemed to think this was no more important than the color of his hair, but Sakura was smarter. She was practical. She knew as well as he did that he had no future to speak of. And even if the council was lenient and let him live, his past had stained him. He would be notorious, and any association with him would only bring pain.

Sasuke’s mind flickered to his brother, and he felt a twinge of pain at his temples. Itachi had lived as a rogue shinobi, hated by his village and his brother. He hadn’t deserved it. The machinations of those in power had forced the infamy upon him. Sasuke had brought all of this upon himself.

What would Itachi think of him? This was another train of thought the darkness seemed to welcome. Sasuke wondered how much he’d really known his brother. It frustrated him that Naruto seemed to have had a rapport with Itachi, however complicated and short-lived it had been. He’d had a chance to understand him. Sasuke had always been chasing his brother without quite reaching him. It was only now that he was beginning to feel close to him.

Sasuke stepped forward until his forehead pressed against the cool stone of the cell wall, willing it to cool his thoughts. Memories of his brother still incited strong emotions in him. His initial hatred had been redirected towards the world that had made Itachi a sacrifice for their power. Since he had allowed this world a second chance, where could he direct his anger now?

“Sasuke-kun?”

Instinctively he clenched his jaw, though whether in irritation or surprise, he couldn’t say. He turned toward the door as he heard it open, unsure what to expect.

“Medical visit,” one of the guards announced, but he barely registered the words. Sakura had gone straight to his side and drawn his full attention.

“Are you okay?” she asked with gentle but urgent concern.

“Yeah.” He was a little surprised. She seemed less guarded than she had since they’d reunited, yet as far as he could tell, nothing had changed between them.

“Is it your eyes?”

He felt her reach for him and flinched back instinctively. She froze for a moment before lowering her hands. Sasuke could feel the air between them cool.

“I was just walking around a bit like you told me to.”

“Ah.” She knew he wasn’t telling her everything, but she didn’t push him. “Have a seat.”

Sasuke stepped towards the bench, but he must have misjudged the direction because he bumped into Sakura.

“Sorry,” he said, jerking away in respect for her personal space, but he bashed his skin against the bench, lost his balance, and fell, unable to rebalance in time with his arms tied. But before he could faceplant on the rough stone floor, he fell against someone’s shoulder, and strong arms wrapped around him.

_ Sakura _ . He could smell the freshness of her shampoo as his cheek brushed against her hair. He hadn’t been close enough to smell it since the war when he’d been the one catching her. Even under the dirt and grime of battle, he’d still recognized it. The memory of that scent had been one of the few things he hadn’t been able to leave behind when he turned his back on the village all those years ago.

Sasuke realized she was trembling as she guided him to sit on the bench. He must have hurt her or scared her somehow, and guilt lanced through him.

“I’m sor-”

“Careful,” Sakura said, and the rest of the apology dissolved on his tongue. He couldn’t believe it. She was  _ laughing _ . Or rather, she was trying not to, but he had heard the mirth in the tone of her voice. He was relieved he hadn’t caused her any more pain, but the relief quickly gave way to annoyance.

“Sakura,” he said as she began undoing the buckles on the straitjacket.

“Hm?” Her tone was purposefully innocent. He waited in meaningful silence so she’d be forced to address it.

“I’m sorry Sasuke-kun,” she finally chuckled. “It was just so awkward, and your face…” More giggles overtook her words. He sighed.

“You’re so annoying.”

The laughter died on her lips and her fingers stilled. Sasuke felt the air cool between them again. Evidently those words meant something different to Sakura than they did to him. She was so much harder to read than Naruto.

After a tense moment, her fingers started moving again, pulling aside the jacket and beginning to unwrap his arm.

“How is the pain?” she asked, voice back to being distant and professional.

“Fine,” he said, then amended it to “better.”

“You do look better,” Sakura observed. Her fingers ghosted over the still-tender skin, chakra bathing it in comfort and warmth. Sasuke was struck by how intimate medical ninjutsu was. To literally pour one’s energy and strength into another, to intertwine one’s essence with one’s patient, it was to join lives in a way. The chakra pouring into him felt like Sakura,  _ was _ Sakura, and he could read her identity in it. It made him uncomfortable, but he craved more when she drew her hands away.

“And how have you been sleeping?”

“About the same.” Which was to say he hadn’t been sleeping really. It was so hard to tell when his world was darkness and his thoughts shouted into the void. He’d caught himself dozing a few times, but he couldn’t remember anything more restful.

“You should learn to let your mind rest,” she suggested as she carefully wrapped a new bandage around his arm. “Naruto says you’ve been thinking too much.”

“Naruto doesn’t think at all,” he grumbled, feeling like his friend was tattling on him to their teammate, but also a little pleased to know they  _ were _ talking about him. Then again, half of the shinobi world probably was.

“True,” Sakura agreed, a spark of amusement returning to her voice and leading Sasuke’s mind back to the present. “But he is unnervingly perceptive about what’s important.”

“My sleep patterns aren’t important.”

“They are!” she insisted with a force that surprised him. “You’ve been under a lot of stress lately between the intel interrogations, your injuries, and having so much of your chakra sealed away. Your body and mind need rest to maintain their strength. Your ninja way is all about getting stronger right?”

Was it? Sasuke was no longer sure. Every time he thought he was close to achieving his goal, something tore it down and changed it. None of the strength he’d gained had brought him to the answers he wanted. But at this point, what else did he have?

“If you want to get stronger you need to rest. Otherwise you’ll find yourself behind Naruto again when you get out of here.”

“I was never behind Naruto,” he growled instinctively. But he was more hung up on the end of that sentence.  _ When you get out of here. _ Was it a slip of the tongue? Did she know something about the council’s deliberations? Or was she simply hoping, and why would Sakura hope for that?

“You think I’ll get out of here?” he asked quietly.

Her hands slowed before she began pulling the straitjacket back in place.

“Naruto thinks so,” Sakura finally answered.

“I wasn’t asking about Naruto.”

She remained silent, and time stilled as her fingers moved to his throat. He counted her quiet breaths as she counted the beats of his heart, waiting patiently.

“Maybe,” she admitted quietly when she withdrew. It surprised him. Sakura was practical and smart, yet even she thought it possible for him to be pardoned enough to be released.

“Try to get some sleep,” she instructed, back to business mode. “And keep up the exercise. Let someone know if the pain worsens.”

“Sakura,” he called as she turned to go. “Next time…”

“Yes, Sasuke-kun?” she coaxed as he hesitated.

“Next time, maybe you could tell me more about what you think.”

He heard her turn back towards him and felt her eyes study him.

“Perhaps,” she finally said before leaving. He hadn’t been able to read the emotions in her tone of voice, but she hadn’t rejected the possibility. Maybe she was more open to talking with him than he’d thought. What would he say to her if they did have a chance to chat? He’d have to think about it.

But first, he’d try to get some sleep. If he was going to get out of here someday, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Naruto get ahead of him.


End file.
